read: 09.08.18 - 17.08.18
book: Fangirl
author: Rainbow Rowell
blurb: Cath is a Simon Snow fan.
Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...
But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she's really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to.
Now that they're going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She's got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
review: I read Eleanor & Park last year, and let's just say I wasn't its biggest fan. To be honest, I only owned a copy of Fangirl because I had bought it before I had read any of Rainbow's other books. So I picked this up mainly as a before-bed read, something easy and fun, and thought nothing of it. Until I started reading.
I loved this book. As you may know, I'm not the biggest fan of YA contemporaries, but I really connected with this book. I think it was mainly because Rainbow Rowell captured so perfectly the life of a fanfic writer, and it reminded me so much of my experience writing on Wattpad. It was nice to see this thing that I've been doing for years now reflected in a book, with a character that I connected to and understood.
I really liked the character of Cath, and although she could be a bit annoying at times, I saw myself in her. And I think what also touched me was the fact that she was going to college, and it dealt with all the scary parts of that, and it's something that I will be going through soon so I liked that as well. I didn't care that much about the Simon Snow parts, I didn't become invested in that, but it added a certain touch to the story.
Overall, it was one of those books which you don't want to stop reading, and that you feel sad when it ends because you can't hang out with the characters anymore.
rating: 10/10